There is an increasing adoption of minimally invasive orthopaedic procedures. Because such surgical procedures generally restrict the surgeon's ability to see the operative area, surgeons are increasingly relying on computer systems, such as computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems, to assist in the surgical operation.
Computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems assist surgeons in the performance of orthopaedic surgical procedures by, for example, displaying images illustrating surgical steps of the surgical procedure being performed and rendered images of the relevant bones of the patient. Before a computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system can display a rendered image of a bone, the bone must first be registered with the computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system. Registering the bone with the computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system allows the system to determine the relevant contour, location, and orientation of the bone and display the rendered image according to such parameters. In typical computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems, a bone is registered by touching a number of locations of the bone with a probe. In response, the system computes a rendered image of the bone, including the contour of the bone, based on the recorded locations. Because the typical registration process occurs during the orthopaedic surgery procedure, the typical registration process adds additional surgery time and increases the time during which the patient is exposed to possible infection. Moreover, current registration of the bony anatomy of particular skeletal areas, such as the hip joint, are challenging due to the difficulty of repeatably locating fiducial markers and anatomical planes.